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Hanger (A)

Properly the fringed loop or strap hung to the girdle by which the dagger was suspended, but applied by a common figure of speech to the sword or dagger itself.

“Men’s swords in hangers hang fast by their side.”—J. Taylor (1630).

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.